Colon polyps affect almost 25% of the population over the age of 50. While most polyps are detected on colonoscopy and easily removed using a snare, flat sessile polyps are hard to remove using the snare technique and carry a high risk of complications, such as bleeding and perforation. Recently, with improvement in imaging techniques, more flat polyps are being detected. Endoscopically unresectable polyps require surgical removal. Most colon cancer arises from colon polyps and, safe and complete resection of these polyps is imperative for the prevention of colon cancer.
Barrett's esophagus is a precancerous condition effecting 10-14% of the US population with gastro esophageal reflux disease (GERD) and is the proven precursor lesion of esophageal adenocarcinoma, the fastest rising cancer in the developed nations. The incidence of the cancer has risen over 6 fold in the last 2 decades and mortality has risen by 7 fold. The 5-year mortality from esophageal cancer is 85%. Ablation of Barrett's epithelium has shown to prevent its progression to esophageal cancer.
Dysfunctional uterine bleeding (DUB), or menorrhagia, affects 30% of women in reproductive age. The associated symptoms have considerable impact on a woman's health and quality of life. The condition is typically treated with endometrial ablation or a hysterectomy. The rates of surgical intervention in these women are high. Almost 30% of women in the US will undergo hysterectomy by the age of 60, with menorrhagia or DUB being the cause for surgery in 50-70% of these women. Endometrial ablation techniques have been FDA approved for women with abnormal uterine bleeding and with intramural fibroids less than 2 cm. The presence of submucosal uterine fibroids and a large uterus size have been shown to decrease the efficacy of standard endometrial ablation. Of the five FDA approved global ablation devices (namely, Thermachoice, hydrothermal ablation, Novasure, Her Option, and microwave ablation) only microwave ablation (MEA) has been approved for use where the submucosal fibroids are less than 3 cm and are not occluding the endometrial cavity and, additionally, for large uteri up to 14 cm.
The known ablation treatments for Barrett's esophagus include laser treatment (Ertan et al, Am. J. Gastro., 90:2201-2203 [1995]), ultrasonic ablation (Bremner et al, Gastro. Endo., 43:6 [1996]), photodynamic therapy (PDT) using photo-sensitizer drugs (Overholt et al, Semin. Surq. Oncol., 1 :372-376 (1995), multipolar electrocoagulation, such as by use of a bicap probe (Sampliner et al,), argon plasma coagulation (APC;), radiofrequency ablation (Sharma et al. Gastrointest Endosc) and cryoablation (Johnston et al. Gastrointest Endosc). The treatments are delivered with the aid of an endoscope and devices passed through the channel of the endoscope or alongside the endoscope.
Conventional techniques have inherent limitations, however, and have not found widespread clinical applications. First, most of the hand held ablation devices (bicap probe, APC, cryoablation) are point and shoot devices that create small foci of ablation. This ablation mechanism is operator dependent, cumbersome and time consuming. Second, because the target tissue is moving due to patient movement, respiration movement, normal peristalsis and vascular pulsations, the depth of ablation of the target tissue is inconsistent and results in a non-uniform ablation. Superficial ablation results in incomplete ablation with residual neoplastic tissue left behind. Deeper ablation results in complications such as bleeding, stricture formation and perforation. All of these limitations and complications have been reported with conventional devices.
For example, radiofrequency ablation uses a rigid bipolar balloon based electrode and radiofrequency thermal energy. The thermal energy is delivered by direct contact of the electrode with the diseased Barrett's epithelium allowing for a relatively uniform, large area ablation. However, the rigid electrode does not accommodate for variations in esophageal size and is ineffective in ablating lesions within a tortuous esophagus, proximal esophageal lesions as an esophagus narrows toward the top, and lesions in the esophagus at the gastroesophageal junction due to changes in the esophageal diameter. Nodular disease in Barrett's esophagus also cannot be treated using the rigid bipolar RF electrode. Due to its size and rigidity, the electrode cannot be passed through the scope. In addition, sticking of sloughed tissue to the electrode impedes delivery of radiofrequency energy resulting in incomplete ablation. The electrode size is limited to 3 cm, thus requiring repeat applications to treat larger lengths of Barrett's esophagus.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a two part procedure that involves injecting a photo-sensitizer that is absorbed and retained by the neoplastic and pre-neoplastic tissue. The tissue is then exposed to a selected wavelength of light which activates the photo-sensitizer and results in tissue destruction. PDT is associated with complications such as stricture formation and photo-sensitivity which has limited its use to the most advanced stages of the disease. In addition, patchy uptake of the photosensitizer results in incomplete ablation and residual neoplastic tissue.
Cryoablation of the esophageal tissues via direct contact with liquid nitrogen has been studied in both animal models and humans (Rodgers et al, Cryobiology, 22:86-92 (1985); Rodgers et al, Ann. Thorac. Surq. 55:52-7 [1983]) and has been used to treat Barrett's esophagus (Johnston et al. Gastrointest Endosc) and early esophageal cancer (Grana et al, Int. Surg., 66:295 [1981]). A spray catheter that directly sprays liquid N2 or CO2 (cryoablation) or argon (APC) to ablate Barrett's tissue in the esophagus has been described. These techniques suffer the shortcoming of the traditional hand-held devices. Treatment using this probe is cumbersome and requires operator control under direct endoscopic visualization. Continuous movement in the esophagus due to respiration or cardiac or aortic pulsations or movement causes an uneven distribution of the ablative agent and results in non-uniform and/or incomplete ablation. Close or direct contact of the catheter to the surface epithelium may cause deeper tissue injury, resulting in perforation, bleeding or stricture formation. Too distant a placement of the catheter due to esophageal movement will result in incomplete Barrett's ablation, requiring multiple treatment sessions or buried lesions with a continued risk of esophageal cancer. Expansion of cryogenic gas in the esophagus results in uncontrolled retching which may result in esophageal tear or perforation requiring continued suctioning of cryogen.
Colon polyps are usually resected using snare resection with or without the use of monopolar cautery. Flat polyps or residual polyps after snare resection have been treated with argon plasma coagulation or laser treatment. Both of these treatments are inadequate due to the previously mentioned limitations. Hence, most large flat polyps undergo surgical resection due to high risk of bleeding, perforation and residual disease using traditional endoscopic resection or ablation techniques.
Most of the conventional balloon catheters traditionally used for tissue ablation either heat or cool the balloon itself or a heating element such as radio frequency (RF) coils mounted on the balloon. This requires direct contact of the balloon catheter with the ablated surface. When the balloon catheter is deflated, the epithelium sticks to the catheter and sloughs off, thereby causing bleeding. Blood can interfere with the delivery of energy, and therefore acts as an energy sink. In addition, reapplication of energy will result in deeper burn in the area where superficial lining has sloughed. Further, balloon catheters cannot be employed for treatment in non-cylindrical organs, like the uterus or sinuses, and also do not provide non-circumferential or focal ablation in a hollow organ. Additionally, if used with cryogens as ablative agents, which expand exponentially upon being heated, balloon catheters may result in a closed cavity and trap the escape of cryogen, resulting in complications such as perforations and tears.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved method and system for delivering ablative agents to a tissue surface, for providing a consistent, controlled, and uniform ablation of the target tissue, and for minimizing the adverse side effects of introducing ablative agents into a patient.